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"We only have so much time, and so much effort. So I dedicated all of my time and effort to what mattered, and got rid of everything else."

These days for me, I tend to lose interest in a lot of shows after their first season (maybe because it was rushed or maybe it was simply that the concept was good but the progression got stale or boring). We all only have a limited amount of time, some people more than others, so should you spend your own precious time watching this? In short, yes, assuming you have watched season 1 this season builds upon the ... previous season perfectly in its own way. Usually I will give every season a chance and just stop watching it if I lose interest, however for me the Eminence in Shadow season 2 was just as fun to watch as season 1.

Does it deliver on animation?
Yes

Does it deliver on world building and story progression?
Yes

Would I watch any of it on the plane ride while the 10 is sitting diagonally behind me?
No...

Everyone's sense of humor is different, so some people will enjoy the cringy things Cid does and others might find it repulsive. However in my opinion the execution of the stereotypical events and tropes are done in a way that feels fresh and enjoyable especially when compared to many other shows in the genre. Not only that, but whenever I watch an episode, it doesn't feel like there are excessive wastes of time even during the filler episode.

One of the things I was most surprised about was that the animation remained consistently clean and story pacing remained at a good speed like in season 1. A lot of series tend to fall off because they stray from the art style or pacing from the first season (not gonna name any names... but a certain isekai to do with a shield), but this series remained very true to the source material. Barely any content was cut and some scenes were only modified slightly. In fact, one of the biggest deviations from the source material was simply that a fight was supposed to seem closer but anime-Cid beat them faster and easier. All in all, this was one of the main things that I think makes it worth watching.

Something to note however is that characters that get introduced are almost always supposed to parallel a cliche, which I think are quite funny and enjoyable to watch but maybe some people might not agree as much with me. For example, I might find the Soopah Eleeto Ay jent John Smith to be funny but another person might just find him cringy. From me and my friends' experience, it is easy to enjoy the series if you try not to take any of it too seriously.

The biggest thing I could see people not enjoying the series for would be that it often expects you to just accept that some big misunderstandings will never be resolved. If you aren't able to find a way to still enjoy it with that in mind, by all means don't continue with the series as it would just not be for you. There are many other shows out there that might appeal to you better, but, if you are able to get over it then that issue won't matter. In fact, I think being able to accept that misunderstandings are at the core of the series will allow you to enjoy the series even more.

If I were to rate each aspect of the show out of 10, I would probably give the story a 9, characters 9, art/animation 9, sound 10, and enjoyment 10 (tbh 11). To explain the rating for sound, I just think rarely do I ever think of a show and think of the background from a good scene rather than the op/ed (FYI the piece I am thinking of is called In Time of War).

Now, the time to watch Eminence in Shadow is ripe. We are out of time... The frenzy has begun.

"In order to be the best, you have to know the worst." - Someone probably

I have watched many, many isekai, from the smartphone one, to the one with a loveable group of 3 girls (blue, yellow, and red) and 1 guy (death by the 5mph tractor), all the way to the one who dies over, and over, and over, and over... So I think I have experienced a very wide spectrum of what is good and what is bad. This is the story of the least generic overpowered main character who wants to be the most generic overpowered main character, written by an author who ... seems to be just having a fun time.

For starters, the main character may say extremely cringe-worthy chuunibyo lines, but it is all in the name of it being cool. His ideal role is almost that of Batman, except instead of being the rich billionaire he would rather blend into the crowd as a "mob" character who fulfills his role as a self-righteous group leader. I cannot stress enough the difference between the average isekai and this. While an average main character might fight to protect his/her friends or family, or to protect their country that may or may not have treated them poorly, Cid is only fighting for himself in order to be the strongest existence that could win any fight no matter the circumstances. It is in no way an honorable cause, yet who better to fight for than yourself?

When I watch a cringe isekai, the most common reason for me to lose interest is when a character spouts those annoying lines like "We can do this together!" or when the love interest girl is meant to have her power-up, the girl is like "I need to be strong in order to not be a burden to MC-kun!" In Kage No Jitsuryokusha, there is no need for those because all of the girls are already strong enough to win their own battles, and the main character literally goes off on his own because it isn't fun because the girls take care of everything. I appreciate KNJ for not relying on that annoying trope in order to push a plot.

From what I heard, the author literally put the LN on hiatus in order to work on the anime and it shows. You can tell the story seems to have a consistent idea throughout it. All characters' actions and thoughts seem to make sense based on how they were introduced and further developed. For example, the main character maintains his goal and his actions all agree with his premise of giving up all unnecessary distractions from the ultimate goal (with the exception of certain specific ones that have no effect on it). Another example would be how even a "minor" character was only meant to be the main character's friend to blend in as a mob, but even that character maintained their addiction to gambling and acted exactly as a typical mob character would.

Because of this, no characters were outstandingly out of the ordinary if you really think about it. But that's where you would go wrong. They act exactly as they should because that is how they were designed. Similarly to most bad isekai, you aren't meant to think deeply in order to get a good experience. In that sense, it is quite similar, because if you think you know what will happen next, there's at least a 70% chance you will not be wrong. A fanservice is meant to give the fan exactly what the author thinks they want.

I don't usually care or praise about voice acting (I am ALWAYS a sub watcher, if you watch dub I won't judge, but sub is usually more consistently good), music, or animation, but all three were exceptional. Not only did the seiyuu play each part perfectly (of course they did, it was quite stacked lmao), but on especially important moments, they knew when to completely cut off all other sound and focus on a particular line making it much more impactful and seemingly epic. Each seemed to understand the mood and emotion they were supposed to because they almost all have played that same trope before many times. I don't think an ISEKAI anime ever made me want to learn to play the piano, sure the one about not telling the truth in April made me want to try, but KNJ literally made me listen to the same Beethoven song for 80 hours straight and has become a part of my pop-off playlist. Lastly, the animation was very smooth and I can't name a single time where the art style or the animation was ever off (but in the current time that is usually less frequent).

Finally, this can be different from person to person, but I particularly found the fights and even seemingly simpler moments to be extremely exciting. Particularly, when there is a fight with the main character, the main character exudes dominance and strength, which is something that most are not able to really do. The main character both looks and feels like the main character of his own show.

So where does my rating of 10 come from? I say in terms of enjoyment I would definitely give it a 10/10 because while it presents itself as a generic isekai on the surface, it is anything but that. I understand people might not agree on being 10, but if you have actually watched it, I would almost guarantee it won't be below average. If you are looking at this anime to go on your list of "planned to watch that you REALLY want to watch, but for some reason a new show just comes up and you actually never get anything out of," I would recommend watching till episode 2 (or 5, which is one of the highest climaxes in the show) and if you don't like it from there, it just isn't for you.

TLDR: Watch till ep 2 (or 5 if you have time) because it may seem like a generic overpowered main character isekai but it isn't. It is one of the most enjoyable from the perspective of a consistent isekai watcher.

Final comment after completing the anime, I found the fights so exciting and I can't stress enough how much fun I had watching this show because of how cool the characters were

I really like the Komi anime because it exaggerates these "social disorders" (that aren't real, but I like to think they are) and kind of teases them in a very forced but obvious way. The benefit to having overexaggerated characters like these is that it is hard to predict what they will do. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a clown character that will show up down the line because they will literally take a person, look at them, then just think, "what is wrong with you and how can I make you even more wrong." And the thing is, I ... think this is great writing because I love making fun of people :)

What might surprise everyone is that Komi season 2 isn't much different from Komi season 1. Now, I am only comparing this here because it really made me enjoy this season so much more. Aside from the slight addition of a definite budding relationship between Komi and Tadano, the art is basically the same, the story aside from the relationship is basically the same, and the characters and most of the new characters are exactly as you would expect them to be from season 1. So, why am I rating the season 2 higher than season 1 if its basically the same? Shouldn't it be lower?

The answer is no.

Komi season 2 did what season 1 couldn't yet by introducing the "romance" aspect that I always love watching since I will never have it :,) Aside from one frustrating scene that no matter how many times I see it in anime, it always annoys me (see bottom if you're curious and don't mind light spoiler), I always enjoyed those moments particularly the most at the end of the school trip. The best part about anime over manga is that there is movement, animation, and sound. For me, the best moments are when the OP or ED start creeping in as a nice moment happens towards the end of the episode. I don't know specifically why, but that's just how my degenerate-no-girlfriend-hasn't-touched-grass-in-a-week brain works.

I had no exceptionally negative things to say about this, and was enjoying my time while watching it so I would definitely recommend this to anyone who was interested in watching it. Definitely was worth my time while watching and I feel like that's all anyone wants to know from a review.

(For those curious, slight SPOILER ALERT: The moment in all school romcom anime is when a girl/guy takes too long to either give the guy/girl something or confess, and then the other just misunderstands and leaves without knowing. For example, when a girl gets too embarrassed to give chocolate and then ends up not giving it to the guy)

The beauty of this anime is its ability to be predictable. It is exactly what you expect, a power fantasy isekai with a slight hint of harem/romance. Its humor is very obvious and predictable like it already told you the punch line before even starting the joke. Not all animes need to be deep and thought provoking in order for it to be good.

The story is almost like any other isekai, the main character (usually a NEET/Gamer) dies in some way, wakes up in a new world and already knows all about the world because of their previous life. Then somehow they go about getting ... OP because of that knowledge and then Bazinga! They are at a school with a bunch of cute girls. If I had to say one thing that set it apart, it would be that the main character is not actually the main character, but actually just is the main character as the title suggests. Because of this, it allows for a slightly different perspective from a "mob" character who just wants to live the life of a mob, but can't because they are the main character of the anime.

Aside from the story, nothing else in particular stuck out as exceptional or unpleasant, save for a few minutes of extremely cheesy lines or wholesome moments that are nice in hindsight but as you watch them you are doing a full body cringe. The animation/visuals at times can look slightly off, but it didn't bother me for the most part.

Overall, I gotta say enjoyment definitely carried my opinion, so you could basically just remove a point or two if you want to account for bias. It was definitely enjoyable for me because these types of isekais never get stale for me, but I know they do for most people. It definitely isn't for everyone because both isekais and ultra power fantasies are for some reason discouraged and down-rated on MAL even though people should already know they won't like it before watching it.

*BLUSHING INTENSIFIES*
Well, first of all this is an episode 13 for Tonikawa, so of course if you liked the main series, you would probably enjoy this episode as well.

Honestly, I really enjoyed the 12 previous episodes, so coming to this episode 13, it was nothing short of the rest of the others. In fact, I probably enjoyed this episode more than the rest of it purely because of how cute and wholesome this episode is. Some may call it fanservice, but I call it... well... fanservice lol. It has a few points that relate to the development of the main couple, but all in ... all it was mostly just fanservice, and nobody is complaining.

Whenever I feel down, decay another 2k ranks on osu!, or go on a fat loss streak on Valorant, imma watch this as many times as I want and it will still slap. And that's just facts

TLDR at the end :P

This anime pursues the ultimate real-life experience... so it says. This anime is very niche and that is important when considering watching this. If you are reading this as someone who hasn't watched it yet, be prepared to watch someone go through *admittedly way more extreme* real life hardships and the lowest of lows that you can get.

We start off with our main character, Hiro who loved running, but due to an accident he ended up becoming a shut-in loser. By the end of this season, you see Hiro learn and grow up in this real-life world. The enjoyment comes from ... watching the character you once thought was just a loser and idiot turn into a much more respectable person and may even start to like him a little more. Now, I personally loved Kamui (the one voiced by Yoshitsugu in the subbed version) as my favorite character here, but you will find out why if you watch it through.

The whole story develops to complete this redemption of a guy who is a loser, depressed by an accident, who ended up shutting himself in to play video games (sound familiar?), but eventually must go through the hardships of life but actually in a video game. The concept is relatively overused, but when considering the smaller details it is genuinely a very unique and interesting plot. The story does not immediately change him into a great person and he becomes the King of Monsters because he got some insane power from being isekai'd, in fact, it is clear that he isn't anywhere near being finished developing by the end of the anime. We definitely see growth, but as the entire story isn't even near finished, he obviously hasn't even finished becoming what we hope he might end up as. *Hence why a season 2 would be nice :)* THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT THE END OF THE STORY, so don't treat it like the story is over and he has to already be great :)

I don't have much to say about art and animation, it is good animation quality and the character designs are pretty much the same throughout so if you don't like this design you won't like the art, but if you liked it like me then you will like it :) *However it isn't on a movie level or Violet Evergarden, so don't expect some Leonardo Da Vinci stuff lmao* The fight sequences seemed to have quality enough animation, but since these animators probably got paid slave wages for this, I definitely say this was good quality lol.

When watching the Trash Full Dive anime, sound effects, the OST, and the OP/ED combo, each one is good enough to fulfill its part. The OST is very good in important parts, as they often helped to compliment the mood and tone of the situation, and the sound effects make the anime seem much more realistic. I would even go as far to say that the seiyuu for this anime are realistic too. Often I don't even consider the seiyuu because usually they are about as good as the anime, but in the Trash Full Dive anime, I thought it would be some average run-of-the-mill, watch on the side while I do homework, anime. However, the seiyuu for this anime feel very genuine and live up to the "ultimate real-life experience." Now, you could probably disagree with that, but beyond just having a voice that fits what type of character they are (the village knight having the deep hearty voice, and the loud troll Darkness mimic having that higher pitched annoying voice (self diss, I have a similar voice :P_)), each voice fits exactly as I would expect someone's expressions to be in the situation they should be in which is what makes the sound very good.

In my opinion, each character from Reona to even some random bullies you see for maybe a grand total of 3 minutes are important. Each are important to the growth of our main character. They each shape the character he is at whatever given time, or at some times they are simply there to highlight where he has grown. However, even characters who seemed like they would only be there for a chuckle had some growth, and that is what I found beautiful about it. Now of course, there are still some characters who are just annoying and are consistently annoying throughout the anime. I think I just have either a different sense of humor and it was meant for another audience, or it just wasn't funny, but either way, all characters being funny isn't my only make or break for an action comedy.

As for enjoyment, this was the hardest one to rate. I am not one who usually enjoys watching a main character suffer or get completely and utterly *pardon language* shit on. This isn't even an understatement seeing as the whole anime centers around the main character being in a game where it mimics that real life has incredible hardships and speeds it up to push the person playing to become a better person to survive in the real world better. For most others, enjoyment comes from their mood when watching an anime, however for me most of the time, it comes from some expectations when watching it. If most people watch an anime and come out excited after watching it, it wins. If they come out and think, "What the heck did I just watch," then it sucked. Simple. With me, if I expect an anime to be some deep melodrama or expect it to be some fun happy funny full dive game anime like SAO, where there is some sort of plot, but no real hardships and get this anime, I don't enjoy it as much. I for sure felt enjoyment in watching this anime, especially after episode 3 or 4, because I finally got used to the fact that this anime is definitely no SAO. Do not go into this anime thinking it will be some light hearted happy comedy where everyone stays all flowery and blushy because it simply isn't that kind of anime.

TLDR
Overall, this anime was very solid with the art being consistent and the sound being enjoyable. When you consider going into this anime, if you only want a more light hearted full dive game anime, go watch something else lol. Expect to see the hardships of life and the growth of a loser who may one day (if we get another season or two) actually become a "Hiro" ;)